“Ghost Sounds”: Don Cherry's Trumpeting as a Haunting of the Human

The question of what makes music sound human haunts contemporary culture and has become increasingly important to music scholars in recent years.2 For many of jazz's most prominent innovators, the question of “sounding human” arose amid the dehumanizing logics of racism. Frequently rendered infrahuman by primitivist discourses, musicians as diverse as Bubber Miley, Tricky Sam Nanton, B. B. King, Eric Dolphy, and Don Cherry sought to approximate the human voice implicitly and explicitly with their instruments.3 I argue that, in so doing, these musicians and their fellow travelers probed modernity's racial fault lines, imitating the singing voice in ways so as to mock and disarticulate the idea that humanity can be divided by race.Along with syncopation and “swing,” the vocal qualities that musicians teased out of their instruments—which I propose calling instrument talk or brass talk—were among the most widely remarked upon features of jazz music as it emerged during the interwar period to become the first truly global popular music. For some early critics, such aural markers were fuel to the fire of their primitivist fetishization of jazz. Rudi Blesh, for instance, wrote that “with no formal training, the Negroes imparted vocal tone to the cornet, trombone, and even the clarinet, though it is an achieved, not a natural, tone with these instruments.”4 The ability to make wind instruments speak was taken as evidence of a kind of primal racial vitality that some critics thought had been lost in concert music.5 Jazz musicians were thus understood as bringing instruments to life, making them “sing” in ways different from those achieved by traditional technique. As Jeremy Lane notes, in Europe's imperial metropolises, in the wake of the industrialized slaughter of the First World War, this perceived ability to humanize machines was an important part of jazz's success.6While the vocal qualities produced by jazz instrumentalists have often been remarked upon over the last century, further theorization is needed. Ben Sidran's Black Talk built on Amiri Baraka's insights to suggest that the fundamental orality of African American (and African) culture forms the bedrock of black music's “vocalized tone.”7 Baraka advanced his own ideas on the subject in the 1980s by way of the juncture between music and poetry, circling around the idea that “articulation”—the joining of vowels and consonants, and its musical equivalents—is fundamental to the development of the human species.8 Poet and critic Nathaniel Mackey's work on both breath and what he calls the “telling ‘inarticulacy’” of certain jazz musicians attuned listeners to the meanings of anti- or extra-virtuosic expression.9 My account of instrument talk draws on the work of these thinkers while proposing a reorientation toward (a) the notes, words, and theories of musicians themselves and (b) the political resonances of their musical voices in debates—past and contemporary—on “the human.” If, as James A. Snead once put it, “black music has always tended to imitate the human voice,” we must ask both why and how.10 Though individual musicians must be understood on their own terms, I argue that these experimental musical practices can be heard in aggregate as an echo of social struggles that aimed to salvage modernity's broken promises of freedom and equality. Rather than a sign of racial vitality or a sonic scar inflicted by racism, instrument talk can be heard as a wordless, inferential series of statements on the possibility of becoming human as “the species-wide challenge of history.”11 These musicians were playing what W. E. B. Du Bois described as a “strange new gospel,” wherein the “magnificent trumpet tones of Hebrew Scripture” are secularized and transmuted into a wordless call for freedom.12To channel the broad scope of this argument, I interrogate the work of a particular musician: Don Cherry (1936–1995). Building on (and playing off of) the work of jazz musicians who came before him, Cherry's trumpeting hinged on the relationship between instrument and voice. As a key figure in the emergence of free jazz, he was central to the rediscovery and revision of instrumental voice as expanded through the use of extended techniques.13 Given the importance of the cornet and trumpet in early jazz, Cherry's experiments with those instruments’ vocal qualities also make for an apt entry point, illuminating jazz's historical development. If Buddy Bolden was said to have “had a ‘moan’” in his cornet, how can an appreciation of Cherry's distinctive “squalls” shed light upon the differing ways jazz musicians laid claim to, and altered our conception of, humanity across mutating regimes of racial segregation?14 Cherry's trumpeting—emerging alongside the civil rights movement and Black Power politics—provides a crucial vantage from which to comprehend the musical disarticulation of racial hierarchy.This article combines close readings of Cherry's own musical thought and theorizations with analyses of key elements of his sound and style as they developed across early recordings.15 I begin by arguing that Cherry's trumpeting was not a form of sonic realism seeking to render a naturalistic image of the human voice but rather, per Mackey, a deliberate “telling ‘inarticulacy,’”—“a broken, problematic, self-problematizing eloquence” long present in jazz.16 I then interrogate criticism of Cherry's technique and his concept of “ghost sounds.” Analyzing Cherry's “mistakes,” I make use of George E. Lewis's theorizations of improvisation to argue that these ghost sounds were a haunting of racialized, masculinized conceptions of the human.17 In concluding, I return to the larger significance of instrument talk, resituating Cherry within its broad contours and considering the concept's contribution to a history of planetary humanism.18When Don Cherry first came to prominence, one of the features that marked him out was his pocket trumpet. Manufactured by Hakam Din the effect produced by an instrument which is merely a machine cannot be compared with that of the human voice.”30 Second, Cherry's own technical limitations may well have aroused his frustration when playing such a demanding instrument (a feeling shared by most trumpeters). And, crucially, third, Cherry would undoubtedly have been aware of the of brass talk through the history of instrumental jazz and the history of his instrument in trumpet's of the to Buddy among jazz's with Bolden and on through Bubber Miley, to and a of vocal has an important of jazz. But this is one part of a more The of the voice by instrumentalists has been a of the to have from of African across the to their distinctive and Whether it is B. B. to a that human” on his or Cherry his trumpet to jazz are in they modernity's racial fault and by and its African developed a particular relationship to as a for wordless of the or can want on the trombone, but be with but also as a way of white conceptions of the If vocal can be of as to humanize by rendered as how can we Cherry's to sing on his as well as the ways he actually Given that the history of jazz trumpeting is with it to first and Cherry's begin Cherry's at with his we must his and to through the Bubber Miley, and for not to have him these less like was Ornette Coleman's to the of the human on his saxophone by for a plastic alto and and in But Cherry's to sing on the trumpet had As a in the he playing style that at to a technical Cherry's description of some as riding a and Miles had a for Cherry by with the fetishization of virtuosity, playing more often in the of notes, and to Davis's own trying to to singing but the came to during the early in Cherry's Davis's tone and for also as though he were his own singing who out in the such as Cherry's and were also to from and to or vocal in a style that as with was playing with what Baraka described as a sound it to and vowels like These are the historical which Cherry's talk of the trumpet as a must be we are to a conception of his trumpeting as the to Cherry's for and jazz critic A. B. described Cherry's playing the are Don is when the alto is so above the that it sounds like a Don is imitating the human voice in when the is making some out Don is making and are in which makes Don Cherry a and an image of and to Cherry's trumpet a certain This is the way that free jazz like Cherry were per ideas of masculinity in from such as and In this of Cherry as can be as a to the New in the of the music's and the But the the image in description not account for his key the human voice in of these of Cherry's playing a different of brass talk when to for of could be upon the of in the music. the are to the must and in to the of trumpet to voice in Cherry's This I propose to Nathaniel Mackey's of a “telling that the ways in which musical or and can be that which is not a of that is but rather those where its the of and of a and that jazz such as sometimes For Mackey, this musical or not to by and a of sometimes over or by but also to “the of a a not within If “the of is not for what to be the makes use of and In Cherry's these are often through the though as on the on he to what calls of Baraka's description of John once like to This conception of “telling ‘inarticulacy’” closer to an of the in Cherry's brass talk, which was a of the human voice or to for we hear how Cherry's trumpeting and the was through trumpet that Cherry sometimes his as a but rather as of If this trumpeting can be thought of as was not a sonic cannot be black in the of who the of and as but the voice of the in Cherry approximate a voice in the way on New and is to have by his on a by Cherry's trumpet from these for we hear a of his The with a figure that Cherry throughout the and of a call that can be described as and does Cherry deliberately this figure by the of but he also often a effect when his musical his through such that the figure is out of by different is not the effect by Cherry's trumpet on for his first Cherry begins by playing one of those of his This of by playing so that they into of sound (an effect often by and once described by critic as “an of While the image of a by as of an that was often by jazz in at to the of Cherry's the sonic with which Cherry so often his can be to the human the sound of a is a Cherry's in on the Cherry does a more such as the rendered with around of the and at the of the his playing on for of his with his in the more toward “telling ‘inarticulacy’” than description of Cherry as “the of the pocket may be a but it is not the to and is toward this “telling ‘inarticulacy’” as a of black it seems that Cherry and his this in their even of to which jazz improvisation is often such as and Miles had to the of as early jazz musicians had use of it is no that free jazz with it a and of to instrumental intended to that more in this is clearly in 1959 of in which he between different ways of through the stating that to listen Whether or not we with it does a historical comprehend Cherry's trumpeting as part of a and of a “telling ‘inarticulacy’” that through the jazz I to of his technique more to his theorization of what he “ghost These can in further the distinctive qualities of Cherry's brass talk, how his trumpeting and masculinized conceptions of the Miles Davis's were not always some of his of Cherry's playing a for my In during one of Down Beat criticism himself for a perceived of the to Cherry's playing on a with the New can that not a trumpet that out and he he and for that, white for want to be than and they for like In his this of Ornette Coleman's “I like what they were Don Cherry on that horn he one this could be per as would as a between In this Davis's his at being by a While this may have been an it does not the more Davis's his with an to we Davis's description of Cherry's is aspect of the the of and that that Cherry's playing (and free jazz more is an new as by who While the and of Davis's how the own with jazz's of and can to some important aspects of Cherry's was not the one to Cherry's like and Cherry from his perceived of technique and In a sometimes as the said of Cherry's on and that he had heard as and and in his When Amiri Baraka a on Cherry for Down one of the to a that Cherry by of kind of that when he first heard Cherry in the the he him to Cherry's as or when compared the of the he was the was for Ornette on he had that Cherry's were that there was no more Given the that the New had and a long history of jazz musicians as it is no that was seeking to of the in Cherry's rather than over or for Cherry's I want to the of Mackey's “telling ‘inarticulacy’” once in to in on from to a this mean Cherry's ideas In Cherry's of “ghost I to how he deliberately them to his to new of Cherry both and for as part of his style that often an between the and the Cherry's can thus be heard as a of as an in and also an of conceptions of on an of the of Cherry's playing that Davis's during the in Down The in question is the of the “The by as a to civil rights and by the New Five in Cherry is the voice for the first by the of John and he the with of the often of brass as the out and he into his playing more and The first that his is an heard on a the which a of and to the The is more Cherry a to to a the that he had been which to a series of hear and Cherry's breath from out of the of these as as Cherry to the same and their in to a around Cherry seems to be the sonic his can to he makes a with the Cherry is not as jazz had at as as Buddy deliberately to the in his Cherry to emphasize timbre or of technical Cherry's improvisation a new His with and The of Cherry's improvisation is with the that to claim not a trumpet to these For in jazz are to be the who that upon a of the individual as the of and I want to a different idea of by Cherry's own theorizations in to of In a on his in Cherry with his of as “ghost which he as which are described ghost sounds as the control of a sound that the instrument may have or most likely of and most of the instruments where certain or the His was to be to work with such be with in the sound of the Cherry's playing on “The makes his concept to the in the by upon their sound and rather than from This is from an can be heard in many of Cherry's an important aspect of his idea of in the of jazz improvisation not begin or with a to some to to throughout the history of jazz and to the of a The of the and in playing has been Miles Davis's own have been by jazz, the deliberate and of and Cherry being among the first to this on the with and thus Rather than upon of does to the significance of Cherry's “ghost I propose that we to George E. Lewis's to and the between and that are when jazz alongside the work of John and have relationship to of his close with jazz that his use of was or human how this the image of the by his own the who sounds be is my that Cherry's ghost sounds on trumpet can be as a of these In to into Cherry from toward sought to human Cherry as part of his sonic it as a of In the and early on one and on the Cherry can be heard as the of human to his “telling his ghost sounds were a haunting of and masculinized conceptions of the human that on they also a of upon the that are Cherry seems to close to are central to but between the and the at the of instrumental Cherry for a that point toward a less human music with that were by an of Cherry's trumpeting Lewis's that, through to our as part of a of both and a in Cherry's and on a in free jazz, we hear an of such to the of Cherry's ghost I want to the in which Cherry with Ornette Coleman's early music. This that Cherry was “the first trumpeter to what in a from traditional Though Cherry not explicitly ghost sounds they can be heard in his with For an of the way in which Cherry's concept in from out of Coleman's ideas of in the of the on from the 1959 The of Jazz to with what sounds like an of the are increasingly and before into a more of Cherry his ideas as the as to or This development combines with Cherry's and in a way that seems to mock the that has with his Cherry's would be but for the and the in and out of This Cherry's use of ghost and of is in the of a of and upon his Cherry and his and The that he often above or their them the concert played at within a was such of that of some Cherry three an with a an with a and a one so as to new within Coleman's the Cherry's ghost sounds to a of his a further from to sonic Though he a that the the from the and In the of Cherry freedom alongside was not making it was to and the and of his trumpet in to ideas of freedom that are upon the instrument, of the and of to the human voice with his trumpet him to a long history of brass talk in jazz, but the way in which he that marked him as early jazz such as Bubber Miley, or Cherry not make use of a to a vocal not the tone of some of the who him, he for Miles Davis's sound with no in it, like a voice with not and not Cherry's distinctive and of him to approximate different vocal and that the idea of human in the light of James this of playing can be understood as free jazz's to a more of the As the has we must work toward readings of particular of instrument readings that between while of return or analyses would for a of both the and the resonances of their to make the historical significance of instrument a of how these practices and what A. has “the species-wide of becoming on the relationship between instrument talk and is also needed. as the idiosyncratic and of style and may an of the work is to the between and historical While the of Cherry's style can be to from the of his to the of his style and the history of the struggles racial that marked the cannot be from the or its that as as the to an of and the of the when he to and the it is that his trumpet sounds more clearly and his voice less The new in jazz are not of must in them one of the of the but of the of the we have this of the not to and but rather to a musical and of instrumental the political significance of instrument it is with that significance in that we to Cherry's that his music had a part in a planetary or a for a from Cherry's ghost sounds and were wordless to that Though not jazz musicians their music in such terms, I that the of instrument talk through jazz is understood the of an planetary that the from circling to and the for what by The many jazz musicians who developed their own forms of brass talk the of a naturalistic vocal to and the voice on a of a of of to a on the breath was into a kind of wordless of racial developed across of we are a long way from the that had in in instrument talk and his that the subject is no to speak then at it with a that has not to through through their and In so doing, instrument talk the movement of a humanness that does not Cherry's ghost sounds were one way of modernity's broken of and freedom and the racial thinking that has those